Daniel Bard was handed a Red Sox rotation spot, and then he earned it

APBoston Red Sox pitcher Daniel Bard has made it impractical for the club to move him to the bullpen.

Justice was served Monday at Fenway Park.

Daniel Bard is in the rotation for good.

A six-month debate was settled with Red Sox manager Bobby Valentine's declaration that if Aaron Cook is called up from Pawtucket, it will be as a reliever.

Cook is mowing 'em down in Triple A, with a 3-0 record and 1.89 ERA in five starts. He has always been a starter, and a good one who holds Colorado's all-time victory record with 72.

Rarely, though, has a pitcher faced the pressure to produce immediately in the way Bard has faced. First, he was handed a rotation spot in March, then given two months to give it away and make the Cook-Bard switcheroo an easy decision for a team faced with six starters for five spots.

Cook has a May 1 opt-out clause in his contract. If the Red Sox don't call him up by Tuesday, he can declare himself a free agent.

It is not clear if he has say-so over his role. If Cook is allowed to opt out, omeone will claim him, possibly the team in the Bronx.

Adding Cook to the rotation would have meant moving Bard back to the bullpen. That became increasingly appealing when the pen looked in desperate need of a guy who knew his way around the late innings.

But a funny thing happened on the way to the demotion. Bard made three starts, each better than the last, and the bullpen got its act together.

Bard's stellar seven-inning start at Chicago Friday was his final answer, as they say on the game shows. Having made Bard their Great Experiment this year, the Red Sox can't pull the plug on him now.

He has made the Red Sox to follow through on their promise to give him "every chance'' to make the rotation.

I have heard and seen references that Bard has somehow not been a team player, that he should have realized the team needed bullpen help and cheerfully offered his services.

I think Bard has been the ultimate team player, considering the rotation spot began as a tacit promise and nearly turned into a carrot on a stick.

You're a starter, Daniel. The team is committed to it - no, really. Unless ....

In Minnesota last week, Bard took the ball in relief and wound up with the win. The Red Sox would not have asked any other starter, including relative newcomer Felix Doubront, to do that.

When Bard gave up one run in 6 2/3 innings to Tampa Bay on Patriots Day, skeptics pointed to his seven walks. It is worth nothing that three of them came in the seventh inning, when he soared past 100 pitches in his second big league start and should have been lifted.

Failing as a starter would have given the Red Sox reason to take the easy route and replace Bard with Cook. Succeeding in relief would have teased the club to do the same thing.

Not once did Bard grumble that it wasn't his fault the Red Sox had collected such a faulty relief crew that he could not develop as a starter without wondering if the failures of other relievers (and Cook's presence) would jettison his chances.

Bard has shown great promise in his development as a starter, and great tenacity in keeping all the extraneous factors around him from throwing him off course.

He has earned the right to start without an imaginary axe swinging over his head. On Wednesday against Oakland, he will get that chance, at last.